I have recently joined the group ride/race scene on Zwift and there are plenty of riders producing extraordinary w/kg… because they under record/cheat on their recorded weight or their wattage production is faulty. Before I decide to join that club in order to remain relevant in the ride/race group you could at least add the riders bodyweight and real power production next to the w/kg on their flag so that other riders know what size rider they are riding with… and if their equipment is accurate… and encourage people to be honest. If we see everyone riding around at 155lb/70kg (or less?) we all will know who we are riding with… and as a 180lb/82kg rider I will be able to work out if I am in the right group or not… and when I see a rider rolling around consistently at 450W I/we will know that Sir Brad is in the peloton… cause he is the only guy who is going to be doing that… adapt your platform to encourage honesty and fair competition please.
Maybe send Zwift employees to everyone’s houses to verify users weight too. Maybe we all could buy A Kickr so we all could be using the same equipment.
There are limits to what Zwift can do to ensure everyone is running a realistic setup and that the user inputs their weight correctly. Verification by a 3rd party that compares Zwift rides to real world rides could help some, but will not completely resolve the issue.
All you can do is make sure your own setup is calibrated correct and consistent from ride-to-ride and that your weight is correct. Stressing over someone else that may or may not be cheating intentionally or unintentionally is pointless.
Its an online game, people will find ways to cheat.
I’ll be waiting for the hate and down votes.
I am not asking for policing, but rather for more informatics… the data is already being obtained, use it. If it enhances the game then why not?.. if it makes the players online presence more complete then why not?.. if it encourages people to ‘play fair’ then why not?.. if u look at the other vid games they do not shy from informatics, why would Zwift?
I like the idea because as a light rider I am at a disadvantage going down hills and an advantage going uphill so it would be useful to know how this compares to people in my group so I can adapt accordingly.
In regards to stopping “cheating” it won’t make any difference because if people want to cheat they will and nothing Zwift can do will stop this unfortunately as they rely on people being honest about weight and setting their equipment up correctly.
I agree with Paul. There is a limit to how much policing can be done and asking people for proof or verification is worse than the cheating itself. The issue can’t be fully resolved. Dwelling on the cheating only makes it worse
I think you have missed the point entirely. The OP is only suggesting that additional information be displayed - information that is already available.
He isn’t asking for ‘policing’.
Thanks Neale… you are correct… I like to know the ‘real’ size and power of the athletes I am riding, training and racing against… this would allow it to be so on Zwift… and if we see a 120lb with 400w FTP rolling around we can suggest he join the Tour this year…
And i don’t see ANY downsides to doing this… if w/kg is displayed why not give us the data that makes this up?.. not as if Zwift doesn’t have it at their fingertips!